WHAT WE DID @ BETHEL: 1/13/13

Wild day…had a fill-in drummer and introduced our other percussion player to the new setup. (We actually used djembe with brushes instead of snare this week, but I think the percussionist was too freaked out to care!) One other change was the use of cut capo. I’m not a fan of cut capo, but I’ve been having some pain in my left hand and figured I ought to do whatever I could to alleviate some of the playing pressure.

Call To Worship
For our congregational reading, we read the Book of Common Prayer Collect for the first Sunday after Epiphany. I try to think of worship planning in terms of what “works,” but these readings do have a nice way of starting worship without blasting into some big rock intro.

DOXOLOGY (David Crowder Band)
Most of us are familiar with Crowder’s arrangement from the Passion:Hymns record. I’d like to use the Doxology more this year and figured we could modify the DCB version to something a bit more congregational. We shorten the “amen” break to three lines and sang four different verses of the song instead of just repeating the same one over and over. (7-11, anyone?) The song was good, but I think I should have arranged a slightly more mellow approach. The big ride-cymbal pattern felt too big. Think I should have stayed with a march groove.

Transition
Welcomed folks and told them the next tune was one they’d definitely know. This also gave me a chance to move two capos for the new key. We didn’t use click and I had to start this one acoustically. I’ve got a pretty good rhythm sense but I was nervous about starting the second song too fast.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY (Ross King)
Ross is a good friend of mine. We talk all the time, write songs together, know each other’s music, etc. However, I had totally forgotten that Ross had a version of this hymn. I was actually on Spotify looking for a good version of the song and was surprised to see my friend’s name on there! This is a good rock version of this song. I strongly encourage you to use it in worship!

Welcome
Senior Pastor was back from vacation and did a great job of welcoming folks with scripture and prayer. I hate announcements so much.

SONG OF HOPE (Robbie Seay Band)
This was one of the harder tunes for us. We’ve done it for years, but we tend to do it a good bit slower than the mp3 version. That’s fine, except our guest drummer was used to playing it the original speed! He did a good job and it came off fine, but I know he had to keep pulling on the reins so he could stay with the rest of us. I love having aux percussion play tambourine patterns in this song. Also love that our electric player does those fills in V2. If you ain’t doing those fills, you’re missing out!

GREATLY TO BE PRAISED (Fee)
Another regular tune for us, but I felt a little weird for the new drum and perc guys to start a song with a drum intro. So before they played, I told the congregation that being a worship drummer was hard – especially when doing drum intros! Then I asked them to help out the drum guys by clapping a long. It was a fun way to get into the next song and I think some of our people clapped all the way into V2. That’s a record for us!

Prayer
Prayed along the lines of God’s greatness being vital in both success and struggle. Prayed for God’s mercy in reminding us of His faithfulness.

CORNERSTONE (Hillsong)
I’m still not sure about this song. I love the album version and we got good feedback on it, but I wonder if the recorded version is just TOO big to duplicate with a normal praise band. (No, I won’t get on my soapbox….this time.) This is also one the definitely needs click and we missed having it. We didn’t rush it to unsingable speed, but I think the click would have helped. In second service, I sang chorus again over the outro but let the electric player keep that riff out. That’s a
great outro.
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